Sports

KLEM Local Schedule (week of July 9)

MONDAY RESULTS - July 9

(high school softball)

(LE MARS) -- The nine-year state tournament run of Akron-Westfield came to an end Monday night with Gehlen's shocking 4-1 victory over the top-rated Westerners in the 1A Regional finals at the Bulldog Complex in Le Mars. Four errors by the two-time defending State champs led to four unearned runs in the second inning by the Lady Jays. Senior pitcher Amber Timmins took it from there, limiting A-W to one unearned run in the fifth inning. The Westerners loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth but managed just one run. Timmins retired six of the final seven batters after that to nail down the biggest win in Gehlen's softball history as they qualified for their first State tournament in softball. Timmins finished with a five-hitter with one walk as she improved to 20-and-9 for the season. Brandi Davis took the loss to fall to 22-and-2. She split the pitching chores with sophomore Dana Hedlund. The two combined on a five-hitter with one walk and three strikeouts. Gehlen improves to 24-and-10 and plays number-three Martensdale-St. Marys (38-and-2) in the 1A State quarterfinals next Monday in Fort Dodge. Akron-Westfield finishes at 35-and-2 and will watch the State tournament from the sidelines for the first time since 2001.

(high school baseball)

(#7-3A)Le Mars (26-6) 7 Sioux City West 3

(SIOUX CITY) -- Number-seven (3A) Le Mars rallied for six runs in the fifth inning Monday night to erase a 3-1 deficit and beat Sioux City West 7-3 in the Bulldogs regular season finale at Sioux City. The game was originally scheduled to be a doubleheader but the two teams decided on a single game instead. Hunter Rowe led the eleven-hit Bulldog attack with a double and triple and one RBI. Kendall Candor, Conner Delfs and Andy Hefner also had two hits and a RBI each. Parker Rolfes threw a four-hitter to pick up the pitching win with two walks and two strike outs. Le Mars closes out the regular season with a 26-and-6 record. The 26 wins equals the school record for victories in a season. The Bulldogs host a 3A District tournament semifinal doubleheader Friday night with Spirit Lake meeting Spencer at 5 pm and Le Mars is matched against M-O-C/Floyd Valley at 7 o'clock.

(little league)

IOWA DISTRICT 6 MAJOR BOYS 11 AND UNDER TOURNAMENT AT NORTHWEST LITTLE LEAGUE IN SIOUX CITYLe Mars All-Stars (1-2) 19 Morningside American 9

(American Association baseball)

St. Paul 3 Sioux City Explorers 1

TUESDAY RESULTS - July 10

(high school softball)

(SIOUX CITY) -- Tournament jitters played a key role as number-nine Bishop Heelan edged Le Mars 2-1 in the 4A Regional finals in Sioux City Tuesday night, earning a return trip to the State tournament next week in Fort Dodge for the Crusaders. The first two batters of the game reached on errors as the Lady Bulldogs were still trying to quiet the tournament butterflies down. Krissy Neumann and Makayla Augustine proceeded to drive in the runs with RBI singles in the top of the first inning for an early 2-0 lead. Le Mars, which was limited to just three hits by Heelan's Larissa Uhl, finally broke through for a run in the sixth on Madison Heidebrink's RBI single. Holly Schneider advanced to third on the hit with one out. But two infield pop-ups ended the threat and Uhl retired the Lady Bulldogs in order in the seventh to nail down the victory. Molly Renken scattered nine hits, three by Augustine, and struck out five for Le Mars. The Lady Bulldogs return every starter from this year's team that set a new school record with 28 wins and could likely get injured former starters Mary Kate Eckstaine and Erin Kommes back next summer from the injured list. The future looks bright after a 28-and-10 season and a co-championship in the Lakes Conference.

(high school baseball)

(LE MARS) -- Kingsley-Pierson and Hinton advanced to the District semifinals with quarterfinal round victories Tuesday night in district-one action at the Riverview Complex in Le Mars. In the opener Tuesday night, Brandon Bainbridge overcame a shakey start to pitch Kingsley-Pierson to a 9-2 victory over Akron-Westfield. Bainbridge walked five batters for the night, three in the first two innings as the Westerners jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a RBI double by Cory Eskra in the second inning. The Westerners defense then collapsed , committing seven errors over the next three innings to allow Kingsley-Pierson to take a 9-1 lead and the Panthers went onto improve to 22-and-7 with their seventh straight victory. Justin Keck had two RBI singles for the Panthers. In the second game of the night, Hinton won their 13th straight, 10-1 over Gehlen Catholic. Morgan Wenzel, who struck out 17 batters in a May victory over Gehlen, threw a complete game seven-hitter with eight strike outs Tuesday night. Four Gehlen errors and five wild pitches contributed to the Blackhawks' win. Solomon Freking's RBI in the second inning drew the Jays to within 2-1 but then the wheels came off in the third and fourth innings as Hinton scored three runs in each inning for an 8-1 lead. The final runs crossed the plate in the sixth inning with Gehlen's fourth error leading to two unearned runs. Blake Wiltgen split the pitching chores with Eric Oetken with Wiltgen absorbing the loss to finish the year at 5-and-3. Wenzel improved to 6-and-2 for the Blackhawks. Hinton takes a 20-and-9 record into Thursday night's semifinal match-up with Kingsley-Pierson at the Riverview Complex in Le Mars at 7 pm. Gehlen ends the season at 11-and-16 and Akron-Westfield closed out an 8-and-21 year.

(little league)

IOWA DISTRICT 6 MAJOR BOYS 11 AND UNDER TOURNAMENT AT NORTHWEST LITTLE LEAGUE IN SIOUX CITYNorthwest 19 Le Mars All-Stars (1-4) 17

LE MARS JUNIOR BOYS ALL-STARS IN THE HULL TOURNAMENT FINALS

(championship game) West Sioux 7 Le Mars All-Stars 1

(American Association baseball)

Sioux Falls 5 Sioux City Explorers 1

FRIDAY RESULTS - July 13

(high school baseball)

(LE MARS) -- The seventh-rated Le Mars Bulldogs exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning Friday night to turn a 7-6 lead into a 14-6 victory over M-O-C/Floyd Valley in the semifinal round of the 3A District baseball tournament played at the Bulldog Complex. Le Mars sent eleven batters to the plate in the sixth inning and collected five of their 14 hits. Andy Hefner's two-run double was the key hit of the inning but Dayton Rand and Hunter Rowe also had RBI singles, Kendall Candor added a sacrifice fly and Jacob Lamoreaux was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in another run. Hefner finished with three RBI's, Candor and Hunter Rowe had three hits each and two RBI's. Conner Delfs had a two-run single to highlight a four-run fifth inning for Le Mars that snapped a 3-all tie. Colan Borchers earned the pitching win in relief of starter Chris Eckstaine who worked just two innings before being shifted to third base after getting drilled in the pitching arm by a first-inning line-drive. The two combined to allow nine hits, four walks and six strike outs. Borchers improved to 6-and-2 for the season. The Bulldogs committed a season-high seven errors defensively but simply out-hit and out-scored their defensive lapses. Le Mars established a new single-season record for wins in a season, earning their 27th win against six losses. The Bulldogs play Spencer Monday night for the District title at the Bulldog Complex starting at seven o'clock. Spencer eliminated Spirit Lake 9-5 in the opening game Friday night in Le Mars.